.
Consecration Aids: 31: We Are Renegers
Fr. Christopher Lee, SMM
We Are Renegers
I COULD make a startling statement and say that we are all born beggars, when it comes to asking for things from God; and that we’re Renegers, when it comes to giving things to God. But then, perhaps, it wouldn’t be so startling to most of us.
First of all, we’re forever begging for things . . . which reminds me of the story of the soldier Pasquale. One day Pasquale went to a shrine of Our Lady with one of his buddies. Elbowing his way through the crowd, the soldier, with arms outstretched, knelt before Our Lady’s statue. ”Madonna mia!” he cried aloud, ”please, take care of my five children. Give them shoes and clothing and food”! Whereupon his buddy nudged him and said: You are going crazy, Pasquale, you only have three children!” Unperturbed, Pasquale leaned over to him and whispered: ”Don’t tell her. I want to make sure they get enough!”
Now, isn’t that human nature all over? Always worried about not getting enough from God. A completely distorted idea, when you come down to it, since God is our Father. And what Father would deprive his children of the necessities of life?
And when it comes to giving to God, we are so stingy, so calculating. Let’s admit it: we are constantly taking back what we have given. Now, in my dictionary, this is called a ”Reneger.” Naturally, no one likes this term. But aren’t we all Renegers – at least in our relations with God? We promise, we swear, we vow to give all. How many of us really go through with it? How many of us take back what we have given – if not all, at least part of it, and oftentimes the better part!
The Words That Were to Change the Course of My Whole Life
I remember the day I first made my total consecration. It was after a long and serious preparation. After receiving Christ in Holly Communion, I went over to Our Lady’s altar and there pronounced the words that were to change the course of my whole life: ”I deliver and consecrate to thee, as thy slave, my body and soul; my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present and future; leaving to thee the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greater glory of God, in time and in eternity.”
To be sure, I meant every word of it. I wanted my donation to be as total as it possibly could. And it was. I (or rather St. Louis de Montfort) had left no room for loop-holes. The formula covered everything I could possibly give: my possessions, my time, my work, my very person. And that without any restriction of time, place or circumstance.
Author: Fr. Christopher Lee, SMM
This is the Thirty-First in a series of articles covering Consecration Aids.
’Would Mary do it this way, if she were in my place?” And off course the answer was a flat NO! Don’t think it took a ”revelation” of some sort to make me realize this. No, just plain common-sense judgment based on the voice of conscience coupled with the grace of God.
Return to The Queen: Articles
With the simplicity of a child I had cast myself into my heavenly Mother’s arms confident that she would keep me ever close to her maternal heart. I had not counted on the allurements of the world, the devil and the flesh. I had underestimated the power of worldly attachments and inordinate afflictions. And thus time was to take its toll from the original total gift as little by little I began to take back what I had already given.
Still Doing Things My Own Way and Not Her Way
Take my will, for instance. I had given it over to Mary, only to find out, some time later, that I was still, in many instances, doing things my own way and not her way. How did I find that out? Just asked myself one fine day, ’Would Mary do it this way, if she were in my place?” And off course the answer was a flat NO! Don’t think it took a ”revelation” of some sort to make me realize this. No, just plain common-sense judgment based on the voice of conscience coupled with the grace of God.
Then there’s the eternal question of attachments . . . those tiny, invisible fibers that hold us – or at least part of us – to this earth and prevent us from flying to God. These are the great enemies of our consecration to Jesus through Mary. These are the forces undermining the totality of our gift . . . that make of us Renegers.
To take but one example, our taste. Surely there is nothing wrong in eating sweets or smoking. But when eating or smoking becomes for us an inordinate affection – something to which we are attached beyond reasonable measure – it then becomes an obstacle to our union with God. And, in the case of a consecrated soul whose sense of taste has been given over to Mary, such inordinate attachments detract from the fulness of one’s gift. It is as though one said to Mary: ”I give you my sense of taste, but I want to get all the enjoyment I can out of it, regardless of your will”.
That’s what I meant when I said that we re born-beggars, When it comes to asking God for something. But when it comes to giving, oh boy, we’re really Renegers! Don’t you think so?
